_{I came across these 2 at a fair I attended 1,5 years ago}

Last summer I consciously stopped following football (the real one, being played by kicking a ball 😉). People who know me were shocked as I've been known as quite a big fan of the sport. I own shirts, I've attended matches and even travelled to see my favourite team play and I even own a membership card since 2004.

I still like the sport and I have nothing against the people who can earn money by doing what they love. If I could I would've been a football player or pilot as well. Unfortunately life had different plans for me and didn't bless me with the skills or eye-sight.

What happened

Last summer was just the drop that made the bucket flow over for me. Ever since Roman Abramovich purchased Chelsea, I've become more sceptical with what happened with the sport. I know in the US of A this was more a normal thing where people with a bit of money own sportsclubs and even make big business playing with them, but in Europe this was still a rare thing.

When Abramovich came along with his big bag of spare change and started spending left right and center, like a real life 'Football Manager' that I used to play in the late 90's and early 00's, he changed the whole dynamic of the game.

Loyalty

_{Basel v Arsenal in the Champions League, the last match I've attended live}

Loyalty was already disappearing in exchange for money. I grew up within half a kilometer of the old stadium of Ajax in Amsterdam and on matchdays I was always one of the first to know when Ajax scored a goal and whether they'd won or lost, just by the sounds of the crowds. Luckily it was more wins than losses as I had to be a fan, growing up that close to the stadium.

I witnessed Ajax going from strength to strength and ultimately they won the Champions League. 2 years later almost every player that was in that team had left the club for better fortunes. In other countries/clubs it was not that bad yet, but it was in an upwards spiral, especially since the Bosman ruling in the late 1980's.

Football Supervising Bodies

In the mean time FIFA and UEFA kept appearing more and more in the news about controversial decisions and statements. A debate that kept on coming back was about the usage of technologies in the modern game. Every big tournament was dominated by controversial decisions that could have been averted if only UEFA and FIFA would start allowing the usage of more technologies to assist the referees on the pitch with the decision making.

Then in 2011, FIFA came with the controversial decision, announce the next hosts of the next 2 World Cups. Why was this controversial

1. Until then FIFA had always announced the next host only
2. Every host needed to have a professional football league
3. the WC is traditionally hosted in the summer which is impossible due to the warm conditions in a country like Qatar

Furthermore, FIFA & UEFA are/were trying to regulate that clubs can only spend what they have/possess, however there are still clubs with hundreds of millions in debts, that can continue to purchase expensive players as these organs continue to bend and break the rules for the richer clubs, whilst the smaller clubs are being punished and put on a leash.

On a final note on this topic, there have been several controversies around the Champions League draw, the one involving Hoffenheim & Liverpool for the League Route of this years' CL does seem to be very fishy, where there seemed to be 2 tickets in the same ball with Hoffenheim.

Some other reasons why I stopped following the Beautiful Game

_{Neymar signs for PSG Image Source: sky.com}

To me football has become boring, the money aspect has also taken the predictability away. The big clubs become bigger due to their incomes from revenues, adverts, TV-rights, owners, etc whilst smaller clubs have difficulty to keep up.

The money that is involved is ridiculous, if one player is bought for 220 million, where this could help solve poverty and starvation in several countries around the world, then what are we talking about? Countries like Haiti, Malawi or Burundi could use this money and build schools, dig wells and take other measures to help solve fundamental problems in their countries. Instead our society approves the fact that we let a footballer cost this much, pay to watch him and let the owners get away with this idiocy. What are we talking about:

€222.000.000

That's not 222.000.000 lice, ants, peanuts, amoeba's ... not even STEEMS, but hard valuable EUROS!

Why would I still want to waste my time watching the wonders of a single player, whilst I miss the wonders of what my children are doing out of my sight, when I'm distracted by football; their first words, their first steps, them having funny conversations, them telling me they love me ... No thank you, that's a show I don't want to miss.

Corruption

_{a Controvertial decision Image Source: cnn.com}

This is a topic that's been discussed a lot in the recent years with several high profile FIFA members moving aside and being investigated. To be honest, I can even understand these people. The money that is going round nowadays is just so extortionate that everyone is probably thinking, "why shouldn't I get a piece of it".

... ok, let's ask the question that is on everyone's lips, "how did Qatar get the 2022 World Cup?"

Human Rights

_{Where is the sustainability FIFA?Image Source: fifa.com/sustainability}

Now that we've touched the topic of Qatar again, let's ask some more questions:

• How is a country like Qatar even allowed to host the World Cup when people are dying building those stadiums?
• How can an international body that tries to promote fairness and equality allow this?
• What about the poor players who will have to play in those excruciating conditions in 4 years' time?

All of this is allowed? All of this is accepted?

Hobby

For me, football was a hobby, something I loved to do and watch when I couldn't play myself. Now it's a business, just like those huge corporations we love to hate. However this one is becoming less and less fun to enjoy. The next time I'll watch a match it will be the kids in my neighboorhood who play with more passion, who don't fall over at each little touch, who don't cry for a penalty when they're tripping over their own shoelaces. Is this the sport we love to enjoy, is this the game we should promote?

Let's bring the fun back in the game, instead of paying others to do it well, let's just do it ourselves ... no matter how poor we are at it or let's kick a ball with our kids and watch them have fun in the process as we spend quality time with them.

And if FIFA and UEFA really want the best for all those people they claim to help with their 'fairness' and 'sustainability' projects, then why don't you charge a fee for each transfer you register and donate 50% of that fee to countries that need it in similar projects. Help build schools, help educate teachers, nurses, doctors, etc. Do good with your power ... make it work for the world, not the wealthy and maybe, just maybe we have a way to start feeling better about ourselves and start enjoying the Beautiful Game again for the good it does around the world.